Paradise Killer devs on the benefits of being really, really weird
In a move befitting a game about immortal beings who live out countless repeating lives on artificial islands powered by human sacrifice, Paradise Killer is getting a re-release. Sort of. It's coming to next-gen consoles today, with all platforms (including PC) getting some extra bits added for free that weren't in the original 2020 release. Not bad for a game that Kaizen Game Works creative director Oli Clarke Smith thought would only really sell to "a niche of freaks". If you're not one of those freaks, I'd heartily recommend becoming one. Playing Paradise Killer is like going to a seaside cosplay party where police procedurals play on loop and cocktails are snorted in a dehydrated powder form. It is a meticulously authored murder mystery with a cast of freaks.
When I sat down to talk to both Clarke Smith and technical director Phil Crabtree about Paradise Killer's new update, it turns out that niche has already become quite large. Even Crabtree's dad has played Paradise Killer, though Crabtree isn't sure he really understood it. Crabtree also tells us he sometimes get messages from friends saying someone they know just played Paradise Killer and was talking about it. "It just seems so weird that that there is this audience there that we never expected, and it doesn't seem that far away," he says. "Like, it's not this mystery group of people, there always seems to be some connection that's quite close to you."